Tuesday Talk with Dr. Dain
Dear Pirate Nation,
Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone had a fabulous Spring Break. The Dain Train did not travel but we were fully vested in a very productive “Staycation.” The final moving boxes were unpacked, closets were cleaned out, cars were cleaned and serviced, and we even took care of my sister’s family dog while they vacationed. On the work front, things were quiet in the office, and I was able to cross-off several items that had been hanging around on the “to-do” list for far too long!
The first Sunday of Spring Break, I was able to catch up via phone with one of my mentors who is a superintendent in a district in Wisconsin. He shared with me that earlier in the day while at church, he had the opportunity to listen to a guest speaker. The guest speaker opened up with a line that my mentor shared was so apropos he wrote it down, “be refreshingly contagious in life.” I liked it so much I even wrote it down. After reflecting on it for a week, it seems appropriate to share it with you. Whether internalizing it on a global scale regarding the divisiveness that seems to grip so many parts of our society or just internalizing it with the perspective I utilize interacting with friends, family, or colleagues, it has helped me get in the habit of looking expectantly for the best at all turns. I realized I feel happier when I assume good intent. I am also working on changing my hustle. Those that know me well know that my default mode can be a bit of a “head-down and get things done.” However, during my hustling to get to the next thing, I am missing a chance to be refreshingly contagious. It has been a good reminder to slow it down and be present!
My challenge for you, smile at everybody you cross paths with today and this week. Simply say hello, good morning, good afternoon, or good evening. Hold the door open for someone. Buy the coffee for the person behind you at Starbucks. "How are you?" becomes "Tell me about your day." Here’s to making our interactions with our beloved Piper Pirates refreshingly contagious!
Proud to be a Pirate!
Dr. Jessica Dain
Superintendent of Schools
District Enrollment Nights
In an effort to make the enrollment process a little less painful, please find below information regarding enrollment nights being hosted at several of our schools in which District Staff will be available to assist with enrollment for the 2023.2024 School Year. Translation services will be available for our non-English speaking families. Please bring all 3 proofs of residency in order to upload the documents and be able to complete the enrollment process. Families new to the District next year should also have the student’s birth certificate in order to complete the enrollment process. To help with the craziness of spring schedules, there are multiple dates and different locations in which families can attend:
- Creek – March 30th 4pm to 7pm
- Prairie – April 4th 4pm to 7pm
Negative Food Service Balance Alerts
Payments made to a negative Food Service account any time after 3:30 p.m. on Friday or over the weekend will still receive a negative balance phone call. When the team returns to the office on the next available business day, a report will be run that will update the automated phone calls. If families make a payment between 3:30 p.m. on Friday and 9:30 a.m. on Monday and have checked that their food service account has a positive balance, then they can disregard the automated negative message. If families want to confirm that everything is okay, please email Sarah Dunn at sdunn@piperschools.us and she can check your account(s) and get back to you with confirmation.
The district has automated Negative Food Service Alerts thanks to Skyward and School Messenger. These alerts go out every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday evening for accounts with less than a $0.01 balance in the form of phone call. If you have a family account with 4 students associated with that account, you will receive one call for each student.
April Board of Education Meeting
Our next BOE Meeting will be Monday, April 24th at 6:00 PM at the CTE Library. Patrons interesting in addressing the Board of Education should contact our Board Clerk, Mr. Mitch Nutterfield, by end of day on Monday, April 17th.
Piper Early Childhood Community Needs Assessment
Piper USD 203 shares a focus on early childhood and a commitment to strong community partnerships as essential to achieving our state’s vision for education. We are honored to serve the early learners in Piper and value meeting the needs of our community. We invite you to take a brief survey in order to help us prepare for our future Piper learners. Click here to take the survey.
Enrollment for the 2023-2024 School Year opens February 13!
Just a reminder that 2023-2024 enrollment opens Monday, February 13th. Please log in through your family Skyward account and complete the returning student enrollment for each of your returning students. The 2023-2024 fees will not be available nor applied until after the first week in July in order to give families the opportunity to complete the 2023-2024 Child Nutrition Free/Reduced Application which is available July 1st. More information to come on that closer to July 2023.
Enrollment Process: All enrollment PreK-12 is done online. Please scroll down to find forms and instructions for either "Returning Students" or "New Students".
During online enrollment, you will be able to upload copies of various required documentation (i.e. proof of residency, birth certificate, Kansas physical and immunization records). If you do not have scanned copies, you may instead deliver a physical copy of these documents to your student's school.
Fees: 2023-2024 school fees will not be available for parents to pay until after July 1st. This allows families to apply for Free/Reduced Meals which will be available until July 1st. The $25.00 Pre-School enrollment fee can be paid by cash check in person at Piper Early Childhood Center, or with a debit/credit card which may be completed online. A list of fees can be found in a downloadable document below. The enrollment process is not complete until fees are paid in full. In the meantime, please make sure that all of 2022-2023 school year fees and all food service account balances are paid in full prior to July 1st.
Proof of Residency: Proof of residency at the time of enrollment must be provided for all new and returning students. Proof must be current (within the last 60 days). To see the current policy, please click here.
Join Our Team!
Are you interested in joining the Pirate Nation Team? Know of any great candidates? Please visit the website at www.piperschools.com/jobs to see our current openings.
COVID-19
We will continue to have COVID-19 tests available should your child become ill at school, and you wish to provide consent for them to be tested. If your child is exhibiting 2 or more COVID-19 symptoms, our nursing staff would highly recommend having them tested. As always, best practice is to keep your child home if they are feeling unwell.
Should your child test positive for COVID-19, we will be following CDC recommendations for exclusion. The date of the onset of COVID symptoms will count as day zero and your child will need to remain home for five additional days beyond the date of symptom onset. Your child may return to school as long as they are fever free for 24 hours without medication.
Upon return to school, your child will have 2 options regarding masking per CDC guidance. Option 1 is to wear a mask through day 10 following the onset of symptoms. Option 2 calls for testing on day 1 of their return and day 3 of their return. If both tests are negative, mask-wearing can be discontinued following testing on day 3. Please visit with your school nurse if you wish to pursue the testing option.